Conventionally, a wiper mechanism is provided in a vehicle, such as in an automobile, to wipe a windshield. For automobiles sold inside Japan, in most cases, a wiper control function is usually assigned to an operation lever arranged to protrude to the left of the steering column inside a vehicle interior. There is another operation lever arranged to protrude to the right of the steering column. The operation lever on the right side is used to control the direction indicator of the vehicle.
A common wiper device in a vehicle not only switches between ON and OFF states of a wiper operation, but also can perform adjustment of an operation speed or a mode of an intermittent operation (operation in which the wiper mechanism moves by a single back-and-forth motion whenever pre-appointed time elapses). Accordingly, various functions for the wiper control are assigned to the operation lever (on the left side) for a driver to control the wiper mechanism for each of the various types of operation positions.
As a conventional technique relating to the operation lever for such a wiper, a technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known.
According to Patent Document 1, four operation positions of “HI”, “1UP”, “OFF”, and “MID” are provided in a range in which the operation lever can turn, and specific functions are assigned to each of the operation positions. Specifically, a neutral position, to which the operation lever returns when the operation lever is released from a driver's hand, is a position of “OFF” and operation of the wiper stops at this position. A function of raising a wiping speed of the wiper to the highest speed is assigned to the operation position of “HI”. A function of shifting a wiping speed of the wiper one stage up on the high speed side is assigned to the operation position of “1UP”. In addition, functions of “MIST” (mist) and shifting a wiping speed of the wiper one stage down on the low speed side (1DOWN) is assigned to the operation position of “MID”. “MIST” means an operation mode in which the wiper is operated once.
In addition, in Patent Document 1, the angle of rotating from the position of “OFF” to the position of “1UP” is set to 5°, the angle of rotating from the position of “OFF” to the position of “HI” is set to 10°, and the angle of rotating from the position of “OFF” to the position of “MID” is set to 7°.
In addition, Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3 disclose specific examples of a mechanism section that includes both a lever switch for direction indication and a lever switch for wiper control.
Patent Document 1: JP2010-105612A
Patent Document 2: JP11-250772A
Patent Document 3: JP2002-46620A
Patent Document 1 discloses that a function of shifting the wiping speed of the wiper up one stage on the high speed side and a function of shifting the wiping speed of the wiper down one stage on the low speed side are provided. Accordingly, even when multistage operation positions are not provided on the operation lever, it is possible to adjust the wiping speed in a multistage manner. Accordingly, it is possible to simplify a configuration of the operation lever, and to reduce the number of switch contacts.
However, the operation lever disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided taking into account only a control of the wiper device. Therefore, it is not possible to divert components of the operation lever or a switch unit connected thereto to those of other devices.
Usually, as illustrated in FIG. 1 in Patent Document 2, the operation lever is disposed on each of the right and left side of the steering column. In general, the operation lever on the left side is used for controlling the wiper device and the operation lever on the right side is used for controlling the direction indicator. In addition, in many cases, the operation lever on the left side and the operation lever on the right side have a structure in which the operation levers are turned up and down in a similar manner. However, since the respective operation positions provided in the operation lever on the left side and the respective operation positions provided in the operation lever on the right side are slightly different from each other, the structures of these operation levers are different from each other.
Accordingly, it is not possible to attach the operation lever on the left side that is designed for control of the wiper device and the switch unit connected thereto, instead of the operation lever on the right side and the switch unit on the right side. In contrast, it is not possible to attach the operation lever on the right side and the switch unit connected thereto that are designed for control of the direction indicator instead of the operation lever on the left side and the switch unit on the left side.
In addition, in the case of an automobile for the market inside Japan, the operation lever on the left side is used for control of the wiper device and the operation lever on the right side is used for the operation of the direction indicator. Meanwhile, in the case of an automobile for a market abroad such as in the U.S.A. as its destination, in general, the operation lever on the left side is used for control of the direction indicator and the operation lever on the right side is used for the control of the wiper device.
Therefore, in the case where an automobile that has a different destination is assembled, replacement of the operation lever and the switch unit between right and left has to be performed. In addition, since the right and left operation levers and switch units have slightly different structures from each other even when the components are similar, the components need to be carefully selected such that no misuse between the right and left attachment positions occurs during attachment. In addition, since there are no components in common to be used on both the right and the left, it is not possible to reduce the number of types of components and lower cost.